A tad overrated

Rating: 4/10 (26 March 2005)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS From the hype and gushes over this film, one would expect way more than one gets out of 28 DAYS LATER. Starting out bleak and hopeless, the film devolves into your standard British tirade against any and all authority figures coupled with some moments that are more "Rambo" than "Dawn of the Dead." While having zombiedom achieved through a virus is an interesting take on the zombie genre, what wasn't so novel was how, predictably enough, the soldiers (ie, the "bad men with guns") are the real threat. Seems that four weeks without female contact is enough to turn these British soldiers into thuggish brutes hell-bent on raping the first women that come across their paths, namely, the film's heroines.
There were a few tense moments and some bits that made me jump, but for the most part, the over-indulgent logic made this film an exercise in debunking than a trip through a hellish world of what if. And given that the Rage victims could be brought down by one good hit anywhere it hurt, one can't help but think that the problems afflicting the heroes in this film might have been rendered moot by a large shotgun or two.
Silly, tepid, and overrated. Has some good effects, but those can't hide the lack of story, logic, or character development.